wait
Americanverb (used without object)
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waits,
present (3rd person singular)
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waited,
past participle, past
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waiting
present participle
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to remain inactive or in a state of repose, as until something expected happens (often followed by for, till, oruntil ).
to wait for the bus to arrive.
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(of things) to be available or in readiness.
A letter is waiting for you.
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to remain neglected for a time.
a matter that can wait.
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to postpone or delay something or to be postponed or delayed.
We waited a week and then bought the house. Your vacation will have to wait until next month.
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to look forward to eagerly.
I'm just waiting for the day somebody knocks him down.
verb (used with object)
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waits,
present (3rd person singular)
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waited,
past participle, past
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waiting
present participle
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to continue in expectation of; await.
I sat nervously on the bench, waiting my turn to audition.
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to postpone or delay in expectation.
Don't wait supper for me.
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Archaic. (of things) to be in readiness for; be reserved for; await.
Glory waits thee.
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Archaic. to attend upon or escort, especially as a sign of respect.
noun
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waits
plural
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an act or instance of waiting or awaiting; delay; halt.
a wait at the border.
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a period or interval of waiting.
There will be a long wait between trains.
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Theater.
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the time between two acts, scenes, or the like.
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British.
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waits, (formerly) a band of musicians employed by a city or town to play music in parades, for official functions, etc.
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a street musician, especially a singer.
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one of a band of carolers.
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a piece sung by carolers, especially a Christmas carol.
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Obsolete. a watchman.
verb phrase
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wait up
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to postpone going to bed to await someone's arrival.
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Informal. to halt and wait for another to join one, as in running or walking.
Wait up, I can't walk so fast.
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wait on
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to perform the duties of an attendant or servant for.
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to supply the wants of a person, as serving a meal or serving a customer in a store.
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to call upon or visit (a person, especially a superior).
to wait on Her Majesty at the palace.
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Falconry. (of a hawk) to soar over ground until prey appears.
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Chiefly Midland and Southern U.S. to wait for (a person); await.
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Also wait upon. to await (an event).
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idioms
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lie in wait, to wait in ambush.
The army lay in wait in the forest.
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wait table. table.
verb
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to stay in one place or remain inactive in expectation (of something); hold oneself in readiness (for something)
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to delay temporarily or be temporarily delayed
that work can wait
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(of things) to be in store (for a person)
success waits for you in your new job
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(intr) to act as a waiter or waitress
noun
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the act or an instance of waiting
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a period of waiting
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rare (plural) a band of musicians who go around the streets, esp at Christmas, singing and playing carols
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an interlude or interval between two acts or scenes in a play, etc
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to prepare an ambush (for someone)
Usage
Sometimes considered objectionable in standard usage, the idiom wait on meaning “to wait for, to await (a person)” is largely confined to speech or written representations of speech. It is most common in the Midland and Southern United States: Let's not wait on Rachel, she's always late. Wait on or upon (an event) does not have a regional pattern and occurs in a wide variety of contexts: We will wait on (or upon ) his answer and make our decision then. The completion of the merger waits upon news of a drop in interest rates.
Synonym Usage
Wait, tarry imply pausing to linger and thereby putting off further activity until later. Wait usually implies staying for a limited time and for a definite purpose, that is, for something expected: to wait for a train. Tarry is a somewhat archaic word for wait, but it suggests lingering, perhaps aimlessly delaying, or pausing (briefly) in a journey: to tarry on the way home; to tarry overnight at an inn.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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waitsimple
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waitssimple
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have waitedperfect
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has waitedperfect
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am waitingprogressive
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are waitingprogressive
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is waitingprogressive
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have been waitingperfect progressive
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has been waitingperfect progressive
Past
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waitedsimple
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had waitedperfect
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was waitingprogressive
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were waitingprogressive
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had been waitingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of wait
First recorded in 1150–1200; early Middle English verb waiten, from Anglo-French waitier; Old French guaitier, from Germanic; cognate with Old High German wahtēn “to watch,” derivative of wahta ”a watch” ( see wake 1)
Explanation
A wait is the time it takes for something to happen. The wait to get the brand new computer was four hours long, but it was worth it. The word wait originated in the 1200s, from the Old Northern French word waitier: "to watch with hostile intent." Even back then, people didn't like to wait. Anticipating something that will happen is waiting, though sometimes what you wait for never comes — like Godot, who never shows up in the play "Waiting for Godot." When you wait to do something, you delay. When you wait tables, you serve people, preferably without delay.
Vocabulary lists containing wait
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
After receiving what he describes in the book as “a full-court, hard sell,” he joined Sea Org “for … wait for it … one billion years.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
In some cases, the wait time to connect to the grid is so long that data centers resort to building their own on-site power.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
"It's pretty quick but we want the other half to not have the wait of 16, 18, 20, 25 weeks from those first symptoms to get a diagnosis."
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
Unlike other states, California requires that rental agencies wait to turn on GPS tracking until the vehicle return deadline has passed and the renter has been contacted by the company.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2026
“Happy birthday, Lexie. I know it’s not for another month, but Maverick couldn’t wait, and I know how much you’ve been wanting a dog.”
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
They have distributed only a fraction of that money, in part because truckers face yearslong waits for charging infrastructure and vehicles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Now compare that to your hypothetical twin, who waits until 35 to start.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026
Elyann Gonzalez Rodríguez, 20, center, waits for a bus in Isabela de Sagua, for a visit to the doctor’s office.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
Rajesh Singh, 43, who works at a finance company in Delhi, says he has experienced long waits to get his work done and even longer processes to solve complaints.
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026
I let Teresita carry the orchids and follow her up to the stage, where Fidel waits for us, smiling and stroking his beard.
From "Across So Many Seas" by Ruth Behar
“He waited until the last moment to take any action, and the court should not reward that behavior,” the filing stated, adding that Seaver “already has lawyers who appear to be anxious to represent him.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026
In south Brooklyn, shoppers hoping to get a slice of the city's transit service waited for hours to trawl through an open-air market organized by city authorities.
From Barron's ● Oct. 11, 2026
The market has waited for the megaIPOs to list, which has kept liquidity constrained, prevented investment in other listings, and slowed the flow of capital back to LPs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
His experienced co-driver Scott Martin revealed Evans was already apologising for his stage performance as they waited for Solberg to finish.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
We waited for most of an hour, until the beast decided to move away.
From "Black Star, Bright Dawn" by Scott O'Dell
The ordeal almost ended the band while waiting it out.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
You don’t own a boat or belong to an expensive country club, and you have $4 million in investments waiting for you to tap.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026
"We are waiting for the details of the conversation between the Americans and the Russians, and we are waiting to see what specific steps the Americans are ready to take," Zelensky said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026
A US government aircraft was waiting at Misrata airport when Al-Marimi arrived with a "loosely fitted cloth hood" over his head.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
I took off, bolting past the restroom doors and past the mural, and wove between music fans on picnic blankets and in lawn chairs waiting for the concert to start.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
